Thursday, September 19, 2024
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
21st Annual R. Darryl Fisher Creative Writing Contest
East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma presents
Oklahoma’s Most Prestigious High School Writing Competition
Fiction: 1st Place $250; 2nd place: $150; 3rd Place $100
Poetry: 1st Place $250; 2nd place: $150; 3rd Place $100
20 Honorable Mention Awards of $25 each
Guidelines:
* All
* Poetry (up to 100 lines) or Short Fiction (up to 6,000 words) is acceptable.
* Limit 5 poems and 1 short fiction piece per student.
* All entries must be the original work of the student.
* All entries must be neatly typed; please double-space fiction entries.
* Entries will not be returned, so keep your originals.
* No identifying marks should be on the manuscript itself, except for the title.
* Provide cover page with contact information: 1) Student’s name; 2) High School and Teacher’s name 3) Classification (senior, junior, etc.); 4) Phone number, Email and student’s mailing address. (Work submitted without a mailing address for each student will not be judged)
* Work may be submitted through conventional mail or email.
DEADLINE: Conventional mail must be postmarked on or before Friday, February 7, 2025. Email entries must be sent via email by 11:59 p.m. on February 7, 2025. There will be no exceptions.
Recognition: The names of winning writers will be posted on this website. Awards will be mailed to students as gift cards.
Poetry Submissions: send work electronically as attached files to jgrasso@ecok.edu or mail to Dr. Joshua Grasso,
Fiction Submissions: send work electronically as attached files to mwalling@ecok.edu or mail to Dr. Mark Walling,
Contest Information: Dr. Joshua Grasso (580-235-3197); Dr. Mark Walling (580-559-5440). Scissortail Creative Writing Festival Information: Dr. Ken Hada (580-559-5557)
Monday, May 6, 2024
2024 Undergraduate Writing Contest Finalists
First Place: Glory Curda, Oklahoma City University
"7:00 am Outside Gallup NM":
Second Place: Kaiya Jones, Oklahoma City University
"Their Voice"
Third Place: Cathlena Spencer, East Central University
"A Safe Space to Land"
Honorable Mentions:
Ben Payne, East Central University
"Boys Being Boys"
Ryn Swinson, Cameron University
"Birth Mother"
Kaley Muse, Cameron University
"Lavender Fields in Heaven"
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
From the Director - Welcome 2024
The History We Are
Hear the crow call.
See the crow flap
against morning light,
wrens secluded
in wintered branches,
a jogger in purple
moves around the lake
in careful trot,
two mallards in shallows.
The sycamores are white.
The cedars are green.
There is no breeze.
Brown oak leaves cling
to what once was.
Everything hangs on
to what has been
while the crow records
the history we are.
On behalf of the many wonderful colleagues and volunteers who contribute so much to these three days, Welcome! Enjoy your time here together at ECU.
Ken Hada
2024: Schedule of Readings
19th
Annual:
Scissortail Creative Writing
Festival
April
4 - 6, 2024
East
Central University
Ada,
Oklahoma
Thursday, April 4
I. 9:30 – 10: 45 Estep Auditorium
Ky George: Gallup, New Mexico
Fire in the Pulpit
Walter
Bargen: Ashland, Missouri
Down the Rabbit Hole of War
Mark
Walling: East Central University
One Dalmatian
II. 11:00 – 12: 10 Estep Auditorium
Nikki Herrin: Wayne, Oklahoma
Progression
Wendy
Dunmeyer: Lawton, Oklahoma
Importance of Words
Alan
Berecka: Sinton, Texas
Selected Poems
III. 11:00 - 12:10 Regents Room
Clarence
Wolfshohl: Fulton, Missouri
Lo, the Gods
Sally
Rhoades: Albany, New York
When the Roses are in Bloom
Josh
Grasso: East Central University
The
Domovoi
IV. 11:00 – 12:10 Boswell Chapel
Lyman
Grant: Harrisonburg, Virginia
November
Constellation
Keely Record: Tulsa, Oklahoma
From
Here
Brady Peterson: Belton, Texas
Letters from the Edge of the Round
Earth
*** Lunch ***
19th Annual Scissortail: Featured Authors
The son of Mississippi Delta cotton farmers, Steve is currently a professor in the Department of Writing, Literature and Publishing at Emerson College. He has two daughters – Lena Yarbrough and Antonina Parris – and is married to the Polish writer Ewa Hryniewicz-Yarbrough. They divide their time between Boston and Krakow.
Steve is an aficionado of jazz and bluegrass music, which he plays on guitar, mandolin and banjo, often after midnight.